It was nearly midnight, but the university laboratory was still brightly lit.
Many experiments that require precise timing are like this; whether it's midnight or mealtime, relevant personnel need to be in the lab immediately once the incubation time is up.
The young graduate student scratched his head, puzzled as to why his culture experiments kept going wrong.
Unnoticed by him, the computer, which had entered standby mode, was silently flashing message notifications.
In a rented room in a certain city, a sleepy woman was awakened from her light sleep by a message notification. Still a little grumpy, she unlocked her phone and saw that she had won a game test qualification, which made her a little more awake.
Based on the popularity of the video and the official website, she guessed that the odds of winning must be very low, so she guessed she had been lucky enough to win.
As someone with social anxiety, she didn't want to post about such a low-probability event on her WeChat Moments or other social media platforms.
After the brief period of excitement, she finally collapsed back into bed, muttering a wish that the game would support solo play.
World of Disorder.
On the boundless wilderness, [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ] and [ Zhongde ] are heading towards the Upperstream Village.
After accepting the quest, the six players exchanged information and quickly deduced by comparing the map that the three slightly highlighted areas in the fog were the three villages mentioned in the update announcement.
So, the two players who pioneered trade routes went without saying, while the remaining four split into two groups and explored the map in the two remaining directions.
Since they didn't need to transport goods, Ed didn't provide any tools like horses or carts, so they had to move forward step by step on their own two feet.
[ Zhongde ]: "Hey bro, did you finish editing that video we made the day before yesterday? When are you planning to release it?"
[ The Great Wei Boxing Champion ] subconsciously reached for his glasses but found nothing. He smiled slightly and said:
"It's finished editing, or rather, it barely needs any editing. The angles, image quality, and the characters' appearances and movements are all perfect. It would be fine for a promotional video. As for releasing it..."
He glanced at the time above his eyes; it was 10:00 AM in the World of Disorder, which was 10:00 PM in another world.
"It's already been sent out."
Upon hearing this, [ Zhongde ] immediately became excited:
"I'm off tomorrow, I'll go support them after the test is over... Hey, look, isn't that a house over there?"
Following the direction Zhongde pointed, the Great Wei Boxing Champion could also clearly see a small row of crooked, gray, low houses scattered near the horizon.
Around those houses was a thick line of a slightly different color, which [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ], no longer constrained by his nearsightedness in reality, could discern as a small river or stream.
It makes perfect sense for people to form small settlements by the water; it's just unclear whether this is Upperstream Village or Midstream Village.
With a clear goal in mind, the two quickened their pace and soon arrived at the village entrance around noon.
Two villagers with somewhat deformed figures were lying lazily on the nearby grass, basking in the midday sun. When they saw two unfamiliar faces walking from the southwest, they immediately turned their wary eyes to them.
Objectively speaking, the two of them, Zhongde and his companion, were dressed much like the villagers. Their clothes were either relics from the castle decades ago or coarse cloth clothes bought from Dragonborn Village. The iron equipment they wore also showed obvious signs of being made in Dragonborn Village.
Even though they are nominally on the same side now, the villagers of Midstream Village still harbor jealousy and hostility towards those who have Dragon Transformation.
The two villagers whispered a few words to each other. One of them looked surprised and glanced suspiciously at the two uninvited guests before immediately getting up and running back to the village.
[ Zhongde ] also witnessed this scene, his right hand already reaching for the short spear at his waist. He exchanged glances with the villager in the distance, while whispering to [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ]:
"Could that messenger have gone to call for reinforcements?"
[ The Great Wei Boxing Champion ] subtly concealed [ Zhongde's ] hand, which was reaching for the short spear, behind his back, and replied to him in a similarly low voice:
"This is currently a neutral zone, and I can't think of any reason for the two sides to be enemies. Just remain vigilant, and we'll only take action as a last resort."
The two cautiously approached the village ahead, and soon a large crowd of people poured out of the village. Only now, at this distance, could they see the appearance and build of the villagers more clearly.
The pervasive symbiosis and Aberration made the two of them subconsciously swallow, and at the same time, they roughly guessed the reason for the other's hostility.
The entire village is populated by people with deformities, so it's natural that some hostility would arise when able-bodied people visit, even though [ Zhongde ] and his companion aren't actually truly able-bodied.
Just as the two were exchanging ideas on how to start the conversation in a voice barely audible, an elderly man with a hunched back that made people feel unwell emerged from the crowd, accompanied by the villager who had gone to deliver the message.
The old man walked slowly, moving further and further away from the villagers who could provide him with protection.
The old man looked at the two humans, who were of average build but whose appearance could only be described as ordinary, and asked:
"Where are you from?"
Like Seraphina, the old man's lip movements didn't match the sounds they heard, which might be part of the game's design...
[ The Great Wei Boxing Champion ] thought for a moment, then pointed in the direction he had come from and answered:
"We came from that ancient castle with goodwill."
Upon hearing this answer, the old man seemed to have become several years younger. He looked at the two of them and asked further:
"Did His Holiness Bishop Adrian send you?"
[ Zhongde ] and [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ] exchanged a glance, wondering when Ed had become a bishop again, but there was only one NPC named Adrian in the entire baronial territory, so the two nodded firmly in unison.
The old man finally revealed a genuine smile:
"Welcome to Upperstream Village. My name is Kaping, and I am the village chief."
"His Holiness Bishop Adrian mentioned before that his Elite Warrior were coming here, and he instructed us to treat you well, but..."
He then looked past the two men in the direction they had come from:
Are there only two of you here?
[ The Great Wei Boxing Champion ] automatically switched to his current character and stepped forward to explain:
"Lord Adrian's first task for us was to draw a map of the territory. This direction was assigned to the two of us, so no other warriors will be coming over for the time being."
Kaping stepped forward, pinched [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ]'s arm through his clothes, and nodded in satisfaction.
"I see. Then please come this way, we've already made preparations."
After saying this, he turned to the side and made an inviting gesture, signaling the two to enter the village.
[ Zhongde ], who was walking behind, asked in a low voice:
"What do you mean by 'well-prepared'? Does that mean you can just eat at a banquet?"